


The Guardian

by pinkzombierobot



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-11
Updated: 2014-03-11
Packaged: 2018-01-15 08:28:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1298209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkzombierobot/pseuds/pinkzombierobot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The guardian of Zone 2 would do anything for the elsen. But as their paranoia increases, Japhet finds himself spiraling downwards into madness. Semi stream-of-consciousness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Guardian

I had them under my wings, all of them. They were my very own children, children I needed to protect. I worked tirelessly, day and night, to ensure that all felt safe, happy, and loved.  
  
And yet…  
  
There was still fear. It spread through them like a sickness, and they resisted my every effort to provide comfort. I tried harder.  
  
I built a vast, secure residential municipality for them to live in. I hoped for it to stabilize their fragile sense of well being. But this extra security I had slaved over providing them only exacerbated their paranoia. I could no longer approach them, my children, in my true form, as it sent them into severe panic. Several turned Burnt and others drowned in the plastic attempting to escape my visage. The weight of my failure to protect them pressed down on me, suffocated me. My heart wept.  
  
Resuming my lesser form, I flew throughout the city I had built for them, newly kindled flames of anger and hurt licking at my heart as they cowered at my shadow. Did they not realize that they were safe? I was sent here to safeguard them, I was their fiery guarding angel. Did they not see everything I had done for them? But still their fearful eyes softened me; I could not allow my children to be afraid. I made plans to increase security around the plastic, to build a soft rubber fence so no more would drown. The necessity pained me, but it would keep them safe.  
  
I visited Zacharie, who was putting the finishing touches on the amusement park I had asked him to build for their entertainment. I told him to cancel the plans for the roller coaster, to lock the area up. The idea seemed ridiculous now, and a bitterness I did not recognize saturated my words. None of them would have enjoyed it. They have no ability to enjoy anything, to realize what they have in front of them.  
  
As I flew away, I noticed Zacharie’s friend, the Judge, slinking through a doorway into one of the unfinished attractions. My pulse quickened; a cat! A predator in my domain. Not wanting to alarm the braver of the elsen watching the building of the park, I kept my form. Chirping nervously, I skittered out the exit. I perched atop the welcome sign and observed the surroundings. Some more balloons here and there, and this place would be perfectly inviting.  
  
It was the thoughts of the elsens that took my focus from my own safety. The Judge wasn’t the only cat lurking about, something I realized too late as his jaws clamped shut over me. I couldn’t transform, not without killing the Judge’s brother, though I despised both the felines. There was no fear of dying; Valerie’s strength was of a normal housecat. Mine was that of the millennium firebird, phoenix guardian of Zone 2. I effortlessly assumed control of the pathetic creature’s mind and slipped into the pedalo leading off the islet.  
  
This was a benefit, surely. As Valerie, I could observe my subjects without interference. My true form may have been too terrifying for them to behold, but there must be some who realized what I had done for them, and express their appreciation for their safety. Someone, a single one, would make it worth it. It would be a sign that they really could be saved. I would wait, silent and observing.  
  


xxx

I was wrong.

I could not have been more wrong.

They still whimper and cower before the slightest of threats. They invent new ones, they cower, they turn Burnt. I see them crying by themselves, afraid of doors, and paper, and the metal they walk on. Nothing I had done helped. All of my hard work, wasted. Wasted!

And for what? Clearly, they could not understand that they were safe. They just didn't realize I gave everything for them, gave them my tears, my sweat, my body. They cry and hide as they did before I built them this great city, before I rescued them from the specters, from the nothingness, from their own fear.

They are terrified, and I cannot help them. It…isn't my fault. I did my best. It was their fault. It was all their fault.

They were _purposefully_ ignoring my protection, my guardianship, my love for them. They just wanted more, more, more! They would never be satisfied with what I gave them. They did not appreciate my work or my sacrifices. I gave everything for them, and this is how they thanked me. Well. I would make them appreciate me, I would make them feel true fear. They would feel my wrath. They will suffer. I will make them suffer. And when they have experienced true terror, true danger, they would thank me. They would learn to appreciate the safe haven I created for them. They would learn, no matter how long it took, no matter how many selfish little cowards would have to return to the nothingness, they would learn to finally feel safe. My children…My dear children…

 

 

 

 

 

.....What have I done?

  


xxx

  


[ADVERSARIES PURIFIED.]


End file.
